Fittening a horse for endurance

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Stroppy Mare

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What's the best method for fittening your horse up for 20-30km? Fittening to work around a full time job (midweek get home at 6.15 at the earliest, and leave home 6am). Horse cannot go in a menage, but can be ridden in a field and hacks.
 
How fit is the horse now? My general rule of thumb is that if they are fit enough to do an hour or two's fairly active hacking, they are fit enough for 20-30km.

Does the horse live in or out?
 
She lives out, but has hock spavin in both hocks. She managed '10-15km' on Saturday with a little energy left in the tank, but not as much as I'd like, and is easily managing an hour of fast hack (mostly trot and canter with a couple of logs thrown in).

Can't pay someone to ride her out for me, anyone who knows her won't actually get on her. She's not exactly the easiest horse for new people to ride and get on with, and she's got quite a publicised history and record, although is perfectly well behaved for me. I also have to leave her tack at home as our yard isn't able to be securely locked up to keep tack there. At present she gets 15 mins or so ride in the field mon - fri and longer rides at weekends, but when the clocks change it'll mean I have a little longer in the evening.
 
Regarding her hock problem, can you still lunge her? Lunging is very concentrated exercise. I have a little book, one of those Pictures Series for about £5.00 where it gives a programme for fittening for endurance, where it suggests riding 5 days out of 7, having Monday and Friday off, and once the base of fitness is established- which yours obviously has - doing some weekly lunging and weekly schooling sessions.

An endurance friend has a 20 acre field a friendly farmer lets her use, so she gives the horse a good gallop as well.

Could she do with a bit more energy feed?
 
Hello,

I do endurance up to 50km (hopfully 65km this year!) with my welsh cob (who's harder to fitten than your average TB) mainly through long hacks at weekends. I plan my training schedule to have one long ride every weekend, gradually increasing in length and speed - all the rest of the weekday training just backs that up. I do also ride in the dark fi needed :-).

Ways of training which minimise time and mileage on legs: HILLS (if you have any - i don't - I'd kill for a good hill!), and also interval training. I find canter work is MUCH harder for my horse than trotting, so i will be doing lots of canter work as this really builds his fitness in comparison to trotting. though I normally trot mostly on actual rides.

But basically if your horse can do 15km at home you're fine to do 20km at a comp, no problem - much like marathon runners don't actually run marathons when training; you just do a portion.

When's your first ride? Exciting :-).
 
Stroppy Mare said:
What's the best method for fittening your horse up for 20-30km? Fittening to work around a full time job (midweek get home at 6.15 at the earliest, and leave home 6am). Horse cannot go in a menage, but can be ridden in a field and hacks.
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You are quite right it is time consuming but easier at lower levels. Our Shagya stallion completed 20km and 40kms at aged 5 and last year aged 6 he did, 30, 40, 2x60 and 3 x90kms.

Some good suggestions here, a quick burst of gallop on a steep hill is good exercise. Most of our work was in trot on fairly level ground. He trained four days a week, one long hack, two short fast hacks plus arena work.

At 20kms regular exercise is the key. Look after legs a lot of horses are disqualified through lameness. Our stable jockey was brilliant and keeping our boy off the tarmac and on grass verges. We always avoided faster paces on downhill.

You can obtain an app for your mobile phone, useful for telling you your average speed and top speed. Cheap wrist band heart rate monitors are available from sport shops, if you don't already have one.

Good luck.
 
I had to endurance train around a full time job as well, so ended up riding in the dark a lot especially at the begining and end of the season. Horses do just fine in the dark and as a lot of the longer rides are started in the dark, it wasn't a bad thing.
 
No she's not able to be lunged unfortunately. I've been grabbing quick rides in the dark but it really does get pitch black up there in the dark, I've toyed with buying a decent head torch though to ride with. This was last weds. Can't hack in dark as all unlit narrow country lanes.


Yes I think a bit more high energy feed wouldn't go amiss, in the past we've had a lot of rich grass which has kept her going but we've got a little now (6 horses on 6 acres).

Interval training is something I can work on in the field at home, as is slight hill work but most of that will be done out hacking (varied hills thrown in to fairly flat hacking but can trot most, and canter 1 - which is steep so actually probably quite good for fittening). Out hacking we have a mile long path which is fantastic for cantering down, as is the 2 fields we use to get into the woods.

As for HR monitors, can you modify a human one to use on horses? The horse additions really whack up the price! I have strava and endomondo apps on my phone, but don't find the average speed very accurate as it is fairly static regardless of whether I mostly walk or trot! Strava also reckoned we hit speeds of over 50mph too!
 
To increase the fitness, you have to increase the heart rate. So a horse can be trotting for, say 20 minutes, (as recommended in my book), but it will be fit enough for trotting, and you will need to include cantering and then short bursts of gallop, although don't go fast for far or long, and try to go up hill if possible and pull up in a straight line gradually.

As for cantering v. fast trotting. If they can canter their breathing is in time with the three-beats and some horse really like this and find it easier than trotting. Trotting fast can result in strains if they are being pushed out of a rhythm they are happy with. Wasn't there a famous endurance horse that could out-trot every other horse and keep it up for hours.
Other riders were told not to try and match that one.
 
We're mainly hill-walking! Was surprised just how fit my pony got last year (fit enough for 80km) just with lots of walking up and down hills.
 
Endomondo is pretty good. Yes occasionally you will have a ridiculous top speed but the average speed is ok. We use it on endurance rides and my (more intelligent) friend also works out the times on her watch and they are always close.

I ride with a head torch, bike lights and high viz on unlit road in the dark (I have a 1km section of road to go anywhere). Not many cars pass but those that do are usually very careful. It makes no difference to the horse, initially they are a bit surprised about headlights but they get used to it. I don't feel I am in any more danger than during the day as we are lit up like a Christmas tree.
 
The endurance trainer Leonard Liessens, who has coached the very successful French endurance team and other riders provides a range of basic training programmes in his book. He recommends that 5-6 hours training per week depending on terrain (hilly or flat) is appropriate for 40-60km endurance rides. This breaks down to 1x 2-3 hour ride at 12km per hour and a couple of other shorter faster sessions per week. He also recommends that a good plan is to ride 1/2 the distance that you intend to compete at each week with a 2/3 distance ride 2 or 3 weeks before a competition. I think it is probably very easy to put miles on the horses legs unnecessarily.
 
Thanks all, it's been a great help and I'm hoping to get her super fit! She's a trotter at heart, and will out trot most horses in canter. She's happiest to either trot or canter rather than walk, but trot is her strongest pace.

We dont have a great amount of proper hills, but we do have undulating terrain which I think perhaps is slightly deceiving. This is one of our proper hills which is canter-able.
11009867_10152663036471836_7661090603001747408_n.jpg


As for cantering and pulling up in a straight line, this is a screen cap from our main canter path - approx 1 mile long at its full length (I usually do about 2/3rds of it though)
14928_10152663036506836_7511081932417392229_n.jpg


FfionWinnie said:
Endomondo is pretty good. Yes occasionally you will have a ridiculous top speed but the average speed is ok. We use it on endurance rides and my (more intelligent) friend also works out the times on her watch and they are always close.

I ride with a head torch, bike lights and high viz on unlit road in the dark (I have a 1km section of road to go anywhere). Not many cars pass but those that do are usually very careful. It makes no difference to the horse, initially they are a bit surprised about headlights but they get used to it. I don't feel I am in any more danger than during the day as we are lit up like a Christmas tree.
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Can I ask what headtorch and bike lights you use? I've been trying to research head torches and theres so much variation I have no idea what I'm looking at! How do you attach the bike lights?

palo1 said:
The endurance trainer Leonard Liessens, who has coached the very successful French endurance team and other riders provides a range of basic training programmes in his book. He recommends that 5-6 hours training per week depending on terrain (hilly or flat) is appropriate for 40-60km endurance rides. This breaks down to 1x 2-3 hour ride at 12km per hour and a couple of other shorter faster sessions per week. He also recommends that a good plan is to ride 1/2 the distance that you intend to compete at each week with a 2/3 distance ride 2 or 3 weeks before a competition. I think it is probably very easy to put miles on the horses legs unnecessarily.
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Thanks, I'll aim for this I think. We don't need to be doing that sort of distance, but it won't hurt to be fit enough to cope with longer distances incase I get lost! My main issue atm is while I'm still increasing the amount of work she tolerates, we're averaging at approx 7kph not 12kph. We have a max speed of 32kph however, but she's struggling with the footwork over some of the stonier terrain.
 
Tesco did some good bike lights which were very small LED ones with a stretchy rubber closure thing a clear/white and a red in each packet for about a fiver. I've done various things, one being a hi viz hat band and attach them to that front and back. Have a flashing tail guard thing as well. Hi viz top and exercise sheet. Horse has a hi viz head collar under bridle (easiest and quickest way as you don't want to spend hours getting ready in the winter!) and various other hi viz bits and pieces. I've also used those bike lights I mentioned on the head piece of the bridle rather successfully but they are just to alert on coming traffic. The head torch has to be on your head or you get seasick.
 
Bear in mind too that at novice level the kph range is from 8-12km ph so if you are training at 12kph you are at the top end of this.

If your horse is not yet especially comfortable over the distance at this pace then there is no problem whatsoever in reducing your speed both in training and competition. Endurance riders would probably be split between those that say you don't need to go any faster than 10kph at this level and those that say a bit faster so that you have some in hand if you have an issue with terrain or something on course. You just need to take into account what your horse is most comfortable with and to remember that it is far better to come home a bit slower and sound than race round then have a problem at vetting or find your horse loses heart! Of course, some rides are more challenging than others so will take longer for the distance. Enjoying the ride is sooo much better than stressing about how fast/slow you are going! In classic endurance terms, truly 'to finish is to win' is the best advice you can have. Enjoy.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Tesco did some good bike lights which were very small LED ones with a stretchy rubber closure thing a clear/white and a red in each packet for about a fiver. I've done various things, one being a hi viz hat band and attach them to that front and back. Have a flashing tail guard thing as well. Hi viz top and exercise sheet. Horse has a hi viz head collar under bridle (easiest and quickest way as you don't want to spend hours getting ready in the winter!) and various other hi viz bits and pieces. I've also used those bike lights I mentioned on the head piece of the bridle rather successfully but they are just to alert on coming traffic. The head torch has to be on your head or you get seasick.
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I'll have a look at those, although whether I actually hack out in the dark would remain to be seen - they live on narrow country lanes, which cars tend to whizz down a bit too fast, and unless we were conveniently near a pull in, I don't know whether we'd come out alive! I'll see how light the evenings are now the clocks have changed, I may be able to do a small circuit with head torch towards the end.

I'd mostly be 'schooling' in a big field though, I've been incorporating some bigger circles etc in more recently with success, but it's mostly a whizz round the outside to prevent stresses of a smaller area.
palo1 said:
Bear in mind too that at novice level the kph range is from 8-12km ph so if you are training at 12kph you are at the top end of this.

If your horse is not yet especially comfortable over the distance at this pace then there is no problem whatsoever in reducing your speed both in training and competition. Endurance riders would probably be split between those that say you don't need to go any faster than 10kph at this level and those that say a bit faster so that you have some in hand if you have an issue with terrain or something on course. You just need to take into account what your horse is most comfortable with and to remember that it is far better to come home a bit slower and sound than race round then have a problem at vetting or find your horse loses heart! Of course, some rides are more challenging than others so will take longer for the distance. Enjoying the ride is sooo much better than stressing about how fast/slow you are going! In classic endurance terms, truly 'to finish is to win' is the best advice you can have. Enjoy.
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Trec they have set speeds for the section, and you do tend to see more 10+kph from what I've seen at checkpoints for level 2 and above. I've had a look at the endurance gb website, it seems as though 16km is the shortest ride they do, she'd most likely cope with it but if we had a vet check after, I couldn't guarantee a normalish hr.

Does a human hr monitor work on horses if you attach it to the girth? I just oppose to paying £400 or so for a horse hr monitor!
 
Hello, at 16km rides you'd be doing pleasure rides so that's just a trot up afterwards, no heart rate check. Obviously it's still a good idea to keep an eye on her heart rate anyway ;-). Instead of buying an expensive heart rate monitor,must buy a cheap stethoscope off ebay for like £5, they're not great but they're good enough. Then it's just a matter of working out how to hear her heart (easier said than done) and then listening all the time! Get used to doing it before riding and seeing what hers is (usually around 35 for most horses), then try doing your normal hack and taking her heart rate immediately after, then half an hour after cooling her off.
Bear in mind that the rate of elimination for egb rides is 64 bpm, but that's half an hour after finishing, not as soon as you get off. You'd really have to work her very hard to get her heart rate at 64 half an hour after finishing exercise. My horse has had 63 only once and that's becuase the British team were bombing up and down outside the vetting and he thought it was very exciting :-).

But anyway, that's for when you get to actual graded rides, at pleasure rides it's literally just a trot up. You can ask them to listen to the heart if you're interested though, and obviously it's useful for you while training.
 
Also to answer your actual question, I did try a normal human heart rate monitro on my horse but found it very hard to get it to work and pick up his heart, hence buying the stethoscope which i find easier. He is a Welsh cob though so bigger chest and harder to hear than on a tb or Arab, so depending on your horse it might be easier! The vets tell me the noises form his gut get in the way of them hearing his heart, that's cobs for you ;-).
 
Stroppy Mare, Morgan123's statement about HR at pleasure rides depens on where you are. In Scotland (SERC) heart rates are now mandatory at Pleasure rides as well.
 
Performance Equestrian sell a simple but good equine HR monitor and receiver for about £60. They are really friendly and helpful on the phone too. Learning to use a basic stethoscope is a really good thing to do in any case and once you know how to find the horse's heartbeat, simples. Makes for a failsafe backup as HR battery WILL fail just when you need it!!
 
Morgan123 said:
Hello, at 16km rides you'd be doing pleasure rides so that's just a trot up afterwards, no heart rate check. Obviously it's still a good idea to keep an eye on her heart rate anyway ;-). Instead of buying an expensive heart rate monitor,must buy a cheap stethoscope off ebay for like £5, they're not great but they're good enough. Then it's just a matter of working out how to hear her heart (easier said than done) and then listening all the time! Get used to doing it before riding and seeing what hers is (usually around 35 for most horses), then try doing your normal hack and taking her heart rate immediately after, then half an hour after cooling her off.
Bear in mind that the rate of elimination for egb rides is 64 bpm, but that's half an hour after finishing, not as soon as you get off. You'd really have to work her very hard to get her heart rate at 64 half an hour after finishing exercise. My horse has had 63 only once and that's becuase the British team were bombing up and down outside the vetting and he thought it was very exciting :-).

But anyway, that's for when you get to actual graded rides, at pleasure rides it's literally just a trot up. You can ask them to listen to the heart if you're interested though, and obviously it's useful for you while training.
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My horse has severe hock spavin in both legs, she's stiff behind, would they take her history into consideration with that? She wouldn't pass a purchase vetting, but other than being stiff (and sore on gravel) she's technically sound. The vet has cleared her to return to full work. She's whizzed round just short of 8 miles today in 1hr45, and was sweaty but still marching on the way home.

As for her type, she's a stocky conny x tb so likely to have similar issues with the human hr. Spooky pony, thanks, I think that's worth noting as they may rule that in across England too.

I have a stethoscope, but I quite fancied the idea of a hr monitor so I can monitor it during rides too. She's also not a huge fan of standing still!
 
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